


Oh

by GealachGirl



Series: The Trouble With Soulmates [4]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Hurt/comfort kind of, M/M, Minor Angst, Soulmate AU, Stanhope is an asshole, but there's a happy ending, drinking as a coping mechanism, polish vodka, the first words your soulmate says
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 16:50:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7114258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GealachGirl/pseuds/GealachGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lewis Nixon doesn't have a soulmate. He exists as an island. Then Dick Winters shows up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oh

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ALastDanceAtDawn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALastDanceAtDawn/gifts).



> A gift to my beta because Winnix is her favorite. 
> 
> Also, I feel like it's kind of appropriate the Winnix one goes up on the anniversary of D-Day.

Lewis Nixon didn’t have a soulmate.

He belonged to the miniscule part of the population that had no words printed anywhere on their skin that indicated the first thing their soulmate would say to them. And he’d looked everywhere that he’d ever read the words appeared, but he hadn’t found anything.

Lewis didn’t tell anyone, of course. Attitudes toward people without soulmates had eased dramatically in the past 50 years, but people like him were still looked down on and pitied. Maybe he didn’t have a soulmate, but he did have his pride.

In the beginning, it had upset him. Even his father, a stuck-up asshole who didn’t care about anyone but himself and his company, had a soulmate. Lewis’s mother was way too good for Stanhope, but that didn’t change the fact that they were somehow soulmates. It was hard to accept that someone could love his father but not him.

By the time Lewis realized that was the case, he’d gotten used to it, though.

And that was another reason not to tell anyone. He was already a disappointment in his father’s eyes; there was no reason to make it worse.

So when most people gossiped excitedly about their words, Lewis made sure to keep it to himself. He told people that they were private and that he wasn’t going to go around telling everyone what his soulmate was going to say to him. Most people accepted his privacy, but he knew that his sister suspected something.

As he grew up, it got easier. He had a number of years of being alone under his belt, what did it matter if that never changed? Eventually, Lewis even learned to accept the fact that he wasn’t going to have someone who fit him and understood him the way everyone else did.

Past acceptance, he found that embracing the fact worked even better. When Lewis stepped back and looked at it objectively, it made sense. He was difficult and depressive and the idea that there even could be anyone out there who would be able to put up with that was laughable.

Besides, by that time, he’d already found something that filled the hole and understood him the way no one else did. Vat 69, a gift from God as consolation for not giving him someone in the world who would be able to stand being around him for life.

Lewis went off to college and navigated the masses of people finding their soulmates and fell further in love with Vat and learned how to exist as an island.

Dealing with hard things became his specialty; especially when his father nagged him endlessly about coming back and taking over the family company. Lewis relented eventually and went back to Nixon, New Jersey to work as an assistant in the company, learning the ropes for when he’d take it over someday.

***************

It was raining and thunder rumbled softly in the distance. In his modestly sized office, Lewis focused on pouring the contents of his last bottle of Vat into his nearly empty flask while the raindrops pounded against the window. He’d have to refill his office stash later, but he wasn’t worried about it now.

Compared to the usual, Lewis was in a fairly good mood. Stanhope hadn’t gotten on his ass about anything yet today and Lewis had only had to talk to him once.

There was movement outside the frosted glass window beside his door and Lewis hid the empty bottle and the flask out of sight in one practiced motion. The door opened a second later, revealing Stanhope and a tall, thin redhead who looked to be about Lewis’s age.

“Lewis,” his father said curtly, “this is Richard Winters, our new hire. I want you to show him around the plant today and help him get acquainted with the place.” There was a look in his eyes and something in his voice that Lewis had never seen directed at him. This Winters kid must really be impressive to get Lewis’s father to look proud of him already.

“Sure thing,” he replied, eschewing the “sir” and any other formality because he knew it would annoy Stanhope. It did and Lewis got to enjoy his father’s aggravated expression before the man left the room.

Winters watched the door after it closed, probably surprised at the lack of love between father and son. Lewis snorted and went back to his desk. “You’re going to regret the day you set foot on the property, Dick. Mark my words,” he said offhandedly, retrieving his flask.

“Oh,” Winters said softly, tone awed. At that word, Lewis felt a shock run down his spine, leaving chills that started at his scalp and ran all the way down into his legs. From the corner of his eye, he saw Winters turn around to stare at him. Lewis looked back, an eyebrow quirked.

The other man’s eyes were wide and round and his lips were slightly parted. He looked stunned, but his expression melted into something else the longer his eyes lingered on Lewis.

He stared back at Winters for a moment before he frowned and looked at the window to see if there was a draft. Winters was still looking at him and he seemed to be waiting for Lewis to say something else.

“Well, let’s make dear old Dad happy and get you your tour of paradise,” Lewis said finally. Winters looked confused, but he nodded and followed Lewis through the door.

“Sure.”

*************

By the end of the day they were best friends and Lewis was thinking of Winters as Dick while Dick had started calling him Nix, as if they’d known each other for years.

Lewis showed him around the grounds and explained what happened in the buildings. “I don’t really know, though. I’m mostly paid to sit in my office.”

“Aren’t you the assistant CEO?” Dick asked, looking amused.

“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. That may be my official title, but it doesn’t actually mean anything in any business sense.”

“I see. So you’re just a face for the company.”

“That’s it exactly. I assume that’s why they brought you in. You’ll probably actually be in charge of stuff,” Lewis responded, smirking back. He’d never felt this lighthearted.

“What kind of stuff would that be?”

“Haven’t you been listening? I don’t know what the hell’s going on here.”

“And yet you have a job here.”

“Oh well the old man wants to get some use out of me somehow. I can’t be his esteemed heir, so he’s going to settle for being able to say that I’m taking over the company someday.”

Dick frowned a little at that, a concerned expression that Lewis had seen come and go from his face all day. But he didn’t say anything. That was the nice thing about Dick; he seemed to know exactly when Lewis didn’t want to talk about something and then he backed off from it. He was massively different from his mom and sister that way.

Their silence back to the main building was comfortable and Lewis’s good mood had been back and stronger than ever for the last couple of hours. He felt almost dizzy from it.

“Nix, are we going to talk about this?” Dick asked when they’d made it to his brand new office, just down the hall from Lewis’s. “I understand if you wouldn’t want to when we’re at work, but now that we’re alone and the day’s pretty much over, I’d like to know what you think. You didn’t react the way I expected you to and I actually didn’t expect my new boss’s son at all.” There was something a lot like disbelief on his face now, but he also looked breathlessly thrilled and there was a shine in his eyes when he looked at Lewis.

“What are you talking about, Dick?” he asked, at a loss.

The shine started to dim. “We’re soulmates,” he said, as if he really wasn’t sure why he was saying it out loud.

Lewis felt like he’d been punched in the gut. He took a step back and reached automatically for the flask. Even if he wasn’t going to drink, the shape of it felt reassuring in his hand. “Dick,” he said in a firm, even tone, “what the hell are you talking about?”

Dick just looked back at him and Lewis could see it on his face. It was exactly what he’d said and Lewis felt like he’d been punched again. 

“I don’t have a soulmate.” he tried to keep the shaking out of his voice, he really did, but it couldn’t be helped. Dick looked confused, like he didn’t know what Lewis was talking about.

“Nix—”

“No.” Lewis recognized the placating, reassuring tone. He didn’t want Dick to try to explain anything. “I don’t have any words, Dick. Anywhere. And I’ve looked everywhere, multiple times, so I would know. I don’t have a soulmate.”

Dick rolled his sleeve up and bared his arm up to his elbow. Right above the crook of his arm, there was a small mass of text printed. He showed it to Lewis. “You’re going to regret the day you set foot on the property, Dick. Mark my words,” they said, echoing what he’d said earlier to Dick.

“I don’t think I said that exactly,” he argued. But Lewis knew that it wasn’t true. Of all of the things he’d said to Dick today, he remembered that first thing word for word. He even remembered the inflection. 

Dick gave him a firm look that said he saw right through that bullshit, too. “You said my words, Nix. You have to be my soulmate.”

“Did you not hear me before?” Lewis asked, returning to his strongest point and raising his voice a little to get it across. “I don’t have any words.”

“Maybe you missed it. I only said one word and it was two letters long,” Dick argued back. His voice was more heated, but it hadn’t risen at all. Lewis looked at him squarely, taking in what he saw, and noticed just the slightest hint of hurt in Dick’s eyes. He could also remember exactly what Dick had said back and how it had sounded.

“I didn’t miss it,” Lewis shot back bitterly. “Do you honestly think I only looked once or that I only turned around in front of the mirror before I gave up?” He didn’t go into detail, but he could see Dick imagining the searches.

Lewis felt agitated now and he paced for a couple of steps across the floor before he unscrewed the top of his flask and took a swig.

The shine went out of Dick’s eyes then and he simply looked at Lewis. “Didn’t you feel it back in your office?”

Lewis stopped where he was. “It must have been a draft,” he said dismissively. He turned toward the door.

“Nix—”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Dick. It was nice to meet you.” Then he walked out and back to his own office. He would need to replenish the office stock of Vat sooner than he’d planned.

************

Lewis wanted to keep his distance. He knew it wasn’t fair to be around Dick when the other man thought they were soulmates, and he didn’t want to have to be responsible for the shine going out of his eyes again.

But he couldn’t help himself. They got along like a house on fire. He didn’t have to try so hard to communicate what he was thinking or worry about how he was expressing himself. And Dick, who weighed every word before he let any out of his mouth, eased up around him, too.

It was so easy to be around the other man and he’d gotten used to having Dick at his side. Lewis didn’t think he could let this one go.

Dick was a good employee so he was out on the floor, already meeting the employees who would be working under him. Lewis kept his sigh to himself and joined him.

“How’s it going?” he asked, falling into step beside Dick. Dick looked over at him sharply and Lewis looked back. Dick had a slight frown on his face and his eyes were flicking over Lewis’s features like he was puzzling something out.

“It’s going well. I’ve met everyone, I think. I was going back to my office to take care of some schedule changes,” Dick replied easily. He’d turned his eyes away, so he must have given up looking for whatever it was.

“I’ll come with you.”

Dick looked at him sidelong and the corner of his mouth quirked up into an amused smile. “And do what?”

“Keep you company. Hey, what are you doing for lunch?” He wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing, but he had Dick at his side again and they were talking as easily as they had the day before. Lewis didn’t know what Dick was thinking, but the other man seemed willing to go along with it.

“Still on your quest to not do any work then?” Dick asked wryly as they started up the stairs.

“Well you know me, dedicated to consistency. And I was serious about lunch.”

“I brought it,” Dick said, sitting down behind his desk.

Lewis followed him in and sat on the corner. “Is it in a brown paper bag?” he asked eagerly, mostly teasing.

Dick didn’t say anything in response, or really look at him, and Lewis laughed out loud. “That’s charming, Dick. Where do you even get brown paper bags anymore?”

He stopped when he noticed the way Dick was looking at him. “What?” he asked.

Dick took a moment before he answered and he still looked like he was considering Lewis. “What are you doing?” he asked finally. There was no accusation in his voice, just curiosity. Dick looked like he was picking up another puzzle and Lewis had really hoped that they could avoid all of this.

He sighed and turned back around on the desktop so he was looking toward the front of the office and the door. “I don’t know, Dick. I thought we were getting to be good friends and I wanted to talk to you some more. Spend time with you.” He paused, then he decided that he didn’t want Dick to say anything yet.

“If you don’t want to, I get it. You’re busy, you like it here for some goddamn reason, and the air between us is a little complicated.” He stood up and half-turned back to the desk to say goodbye before he made his way toward the door. 

“Nix, wait,” Dick said from behind him. Lewis stopped. A moment later he turned around.

“Yeah?”

There was a frustrated look on Dick’s face, but he was clearly making an effort at putting that away. “Please sit back down. Let’s have lunch. We don’t have to talk about the soulmate thing if you don’t want to.”

Lewis walked back to the desk, but before he sat down, he looked at Dick and made sure he had his full attention. As always, he did.

“I don’t have any words, Dick. Just remember that.” Lewis sounded firm, which was good, but he was surprised to note that the words were vaguely pleading. He could still remember yesterday, when Dick’s face had shut down and all of the brightness that had been in his eyes had faded.

Dick ducked his head to look at the surface of his desk before he returned his eyes to Lewis’s. He’d gotten his expression under control again. “I know.” He smiled weakly. An olive branch. “Let’s eat.”

******************

Lewis and Dick quickly fell into a rhythm by the end of the week.

At some point during the day, Lewis would leave his office and find Dick wherever he was; whether it was bothering him in his office or on the floor. He would stick around, following Dick and talking with him, and then they would have lunch together and talk until Dick insisted that he had to get work done. Then Lewis would wait in his own office until Dick eventually came in to sit in the chair across from Lewis and do the rest of his work.

They talked a lot, but they also tended to work in comfortable silence. Either way, they just gravitated toward each other.

The one thing they didn’t talk about was the soulmate words that Dick had. And by now, Lewis had an explanation for it.

Lewis had read a lot about the soulmate words growing up and he knew that both parties had to say words. Sure, he’d said Dick’s but since he didn’t have any for Dick to say back it didn’t matter. Considering how some people had ridiculously common words on their bodies—“how may I help you?”, “can I take your order?”, “Hello”—it made sense. Pairs prevented accidents.

He couldn’t explain the sensation that had run through his body after their first exchange though. He’d even checked the windows and vents in his office. The lack of drafts led to another lengthy check over his body later that night.

Still nothing.

They got along without mentioning them, though. And Lewis was happier than he could remember ever being before. There was something comforting about being able to look across the room during a meeting and having someone already looking back at you, their face mirroring your emotions. And they were able to have silent conversations over the heads of Stanhope or Sobel, one of the floor managers who felt the need to make Dick’s life hard.

Lewis could always tell when Dick was annoyed or frustrated and he seemed to be the only one. It didn’t come from full facial expressions —Dick kept those under lock and key—but Lewis could read subtle hints in the way his face or his shoulders tightened. Where other people saw a blank slate, Lewis could find small movements that completely changed his facial expressions.

But as with everything that made Lewis happy, Stanhope had to try and ruin it. 

Dick had been in Lewis’s office with a pile of paperwork for about an hour when Stanhope came around. He didn’t bother knocking or announcing himself; he just pushed Lewis’s door open. Lewis looked up at the intrusion and Dick half-turned in his seat.

Lewis couldn’t see his face, but he could see the way he stiffened. He wanted to reassure Dick that he was fine, but he was preoccupied by the look on his father’s face.

“Lewis,” his father said directly to him, “don’t you have work to do?” Before Lewis could gesture to the work he was clearly doing, Stanhope had moved his attention to Dick.

“I was looking for you, but you weren’t in your office.”

Lewis could see Dick’s tension again and he watched as the other man responded carefully. “I’ve been here, sir. I’ve been consulting with Nix—Lewis,” he stumbled a little, but recovered well.

Stanhope looked doubtful, but he didn’t say anything like Lewis expected him to. Instead, he looked at Lewis and the spread of papers across his desk in silence, and Lewis could see the familiar gleam of disapproval. He stared back to show he didn’t care.

“I needed to talk to you about something. Why don’t we go back to your office?” It wasn’t really a question, but Dick nodded and gathered his stuff into a pile. Stanhope waited for him by the door, but Dick still turned around to glance at Lewis. His expression was part apology and part reassurance.

Lewis nodded. He knew what his father was like. It wasn’t Dick’s fault that he couldn’t react the same way Lewis did. 

The door closed behind them and Lewis looked back down at his desk, but he couldn’t imagine actually getting anything done now. 

He sighed in aggravation and pushed a folder of papers away from him, reaching for his flask at the same time. Vat could help.

************

Dick didn’t come back after his meeting with Stanhope and Lewis really didn’t think that whatever they’d had to talk about could have taken that long.

He tried not to let it bother him, that his father was trying to get involved in the best thing that had happened to Lewis in a long time, but he couldn’t quite manage to silence the doubtful voice in the back of his head.

It got louder throughout the next day and hit its peak volume when Dick didn’t come to his office. Dick had eaten lunch with him and they’d talked and hung out on the floor as usual, but he didn’t come back the way he usually did.

Again, Lewis waited for a while—longer than it ever took for Dick to come back around—but he got tired of it eventually. He pulled out the flask.

Now that he thought about it, lunch had been shorter and Dick had been distant when they’d been talking. Lewis glared at the wall opposite his desk and fumed quietly. Evidently, he couldn’t even have friends who could deal with him once Stanhope stepped in to set them straight. Because Lewis didn’t have any doubt in his mind that his father had told Dick to stay away from him.

He carried that fog with him for the rest of the day and didn’t get anything accomplished but making his way through another bottle of Vat. 

It was as he was walking out of the building, that he finally saw Dick again. As soon as he did, he turned and tried to get away before Dick caught sight of him, but Dick was better than that.

“Nix!” he called, hurrying to catch up. And even though he was still upset, Lewis didn’t have any choice but to slow down and wait.

Dick stopped before Lewis could say anything and looked at him in clear concern. Lewis looked back, keeping his face neutral. Dick seemed tempted to say something, but after a few more moments of studying Lewis, he made a different decision. 

“I’m sorry. I got tied up in a conference call and it went on for longer than I expected.” He noticed that his explanation did nothing to ease Lewis’s expression and something in his expression hardened, though Lewis got the impression it wasn’t about him.

“Yesterday your dad told me that I didn’t need to consult you about anything and that I would be better off handling all the work on my own and leaving you to, quote, ‘do whatever it is he does.’” Lewis wasn’t surprised and he tried to say something about it.

Dick interrupted him, “I’m not going to do that, Lew.” He looked at Lewis intently, eyes flicking back and forth over his face. Then he smiled a little bit. “I really did have a conference call. Are we still on for tomorrow?”

Lewis looked back in shock, and though he couldn’t think of anything to say, he managed to nod. Dick’s smile expanded.

***************

So they continued like that and Lewis began to realize just how much he liked Dick Winters. It got to the point where he couldn’t imagine living without him. It was an intense, unfamiliar feeling that freaked him out a little, but Lewis found himself embracing it nonetheless.

It was a shame he didn’t have any words.

About a week after Stanhope’s failed attempt to get Lewis away from Dick, Lewis was called to his father’s office.

He stood outside the door for just a moment, bracing himself, before he rapped his knuckles against the dark wood. He was called in and he pushed the door open.

Stanhope’s office was much larger than Lewis’s or Dick’s. The carpet was carefully maintained and plush and the room was outfitted with big leather furniture. Though he had large windows, Stanhope kept the floor-length curtains drawn most of the time. Lewis couldn’t remember ever seeing sunlight touch this room with its dark wood and leather. Instead, the room was lit by a series of floor lamps, whose light barely touched the mostly decorative bookshelves. It was an office that looked much more important than it probably was.

But, hell, maybe the business had grown since the last time Lewis had cared to pay attention.

Lewis always felt like a stranger when he stepped foot in the office, walked several feet across the floor, and stood on the other side of the imposing, solid wooden desk. He realized that this was the point of the office, and he hated that it worked on him when he didn’t want it to.

“You wanted to see me?” he asked. Stanhope was still bent over paperwork, as if he hadn’t seen the door open or Lewis step in. The office even inspired a bit more respect, which was also the point and which he also hated.

His father looked up at him slowly. It took him a moment, just a fraction of a second, to recognize his son standing in front of him, but Lewis noticed it.

“Yes, Lewis, I wanted to talk to you about Richard Winters.”

If he hadn’t already been on the alert, that would have put Lewis there. Still, he stiffened a little and replied, “What about him?”

“He’s a good worker. Already he’s made himself valuable to the company,” Stanhope started. Lewis frowned, with a vague sense of where this was going. “You’re here because I’m the head of the company,” his father continued.

“Yeah I know that.”

“I want you staying away from Winters,” Stanhope’s tone was mild, as if he were simply delivering news about the weather. He’d even returned to glancing at his papers, as if this encounter was already over.

“I’m not going to do that,” Lewis replied evenly, like he was continuing the weather conversation. He stared at his father and waited for the moment when the man looked up at him.

The annoyed expression on Stanhope’s face was almost worth the tightness that Lewis felt in his chest. Stanhope put down his pen and Lewis felt his heart jump. Here it was; the confrontation.

“And why not?” his voice was heated and Lewis could anticipate what was going to come next.

“Because we’re friends,” Lewis replied. _And I don’t know what I’d do without him anymore and I can’t stand the thought of not being with him,_ went unsaid. He was drawn to Dick Winters, and the more he spent time with him, the harder it was to pull away. “I can’t just stop talking to him.”

Stanhope looked at him squarely and now Lewis had his full attention. “You can and you will. Winters has the potential to do good things for the company and I don’t want you distracting him.”

“Who said I’m distracting him?” Lewis demanded, interrupting what his father was going to say next. 

“Please, Lewis, he doesn’t have the time to deal with all of your nonsense. And I don’t want you pulling him into your spiral.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific than that,” Lewis ground out. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but at the same time it was nice to finally hear his father say it out loud.

Stanhope gave him a disdainful look, like he couldn’t believe he had to say it out loud either; couldn’t Lewis pick up on it himself?

“You think you can just drift through life, like nothing touches you and nothing matters, but you’re going to have a rude awakening someday. I don’t want you to drag Winters into that. Why do you think I brought him in?”

His father shook his head, “Your mother and I tried everything with you. We sent you to the best private schools and got you into Yale. And now you’re set on pissing it all down the drain. I have news for you, Lewis, you can do it to your own life, but I’m not going to let you do it to this company.”

“Oh so you’re going to fire me and have Dick take over the company then?” Lewis shot back. He knew for a fact that Dick didn’t want the company, but that he would do it if Stanhope asked. He didn’t want to think about what else his father had said.

“In a manner of speaking. You’re going to take it over officially because you’re a Nixon and I’ve already put too much work into making you seem like the next owner. However, Winters is going to be the one running things.” Stanhope looked pleased with himself and like he wanted to know how Lewis would beat that.

“And what if I resign and ruin your pretty picture?” Lewis asked.

“You wouldn’t dare.” Lewis quirked his eyebrows in response, begging for his father to test him. Stanhope’s expression hardened. “You don’t have anything else to do with yourself. You can’t leave.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Dad,” Lewis spit. He turned then, sensing that he should get out while he was ahead for the moment, and walked back to the door.

“Stay away from Winters,” his father yelled after him.

Lewis ignored him and left the door open behind him.

He marched to Dick’s office and went in without knocking, flask already in hand.

Dick looked up at him sharply, concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“I just got out of a meeting with my dear old Dad,” Lewis seethed, knocking back a swallow. “And do you want to know what he wanted to talk to me about?” Dick didn’t look sure, but Lewis wasn’t really giving him a choice.

“He wanted to tell me that I’m a failure who has no hope of doing anything else with my life but inherit his company, and that I’ve wasted all of the hard work that he put into me, especially the part about trying to teach me to take over. And because of that, he brought you in. You’re the one getting the company by the way. You’re going to run it while I have the official title as the head of the operation or some shit. So he wants me to stay away from you.” Lewis finally paused to take a breath, realizing that he was shaking now. He took another swig to steady himself.

Dick’s face was a mixture of emotions. He looked concerned and alarmed and sympathetic and angry. He also looked shocked.

Lewis didn’t want him to respond yet, so he threw himself down into the chair across from Dick’s desk—a much smaller, more humble, metal thing—and continued.

“He’s afraid that I’m going to corrupt you and drag you into my downward spiral. He actually used the word spiral, by the way. Kept lamenting about how he and Mom tried so hard with me and because everything’s about him, I’m just set on destroying it all. Everything I do is to get back at him. Yeah right,” he tipped the flask back again.

“Like you can be corrupted anyway. You’re above that. If it hasn’t happened yet, it’s not going to happen at all. Besides, like Stanhope said, I haven’t done anything at all with my life, why in the hell would I be able to affect you?” His voice had calmed considerably and though his heart was still pounding, Lewis felt all of the anger drain out of him. Now he finally went silent and stared at the ceiling while he took another lazy drink.

Dick was still and when Lewis looked at him, he saw that Dick was giving him one of his quiet, considering looks. Lewis got those a lot, especially when he went off on a rant.

“What’re you thinking about?” he asked softly.

Dick straightened a little and smiled at him. “Don’t sell yourself so short, Lew. You’ve had an effect.”

Lewis shook his head and looked back up at the ceiling, though his mouth stretched into a smile and he felt something curl in his stomach. “Did you hear what I said about you getting the company?”

“Yeah,” Lewis could picture the bitter twist to Dick’s mouth, “I’m not sure I’m the right person for the job.”

“Of course you are. You may not want it, but you’d be brilliant.”

Dick shook his head, but decided to drop it. “What did you say to his telling you to stay away from me?”

Lewis looked down again and at the sight of the look on Dick’s face, he dropped his feet back to the floor and straightened. “The same thing you did. Probably not nearly as polite, but I’m not going to do it and I told him that. You’re my best friend Dick. How in the hell would I just stop talking to you?”

Dick’s eyebrows rose and Lewis clarified. “I mean, you get me. I don’t have to explain myself to you. And you’re the only person who can put up with me, somehow.” Dick was looking at him so closely that Lewis squirmed a little. “I don’t know, can you imagine not hanging out with me anymore? Because I can’t.” He didn’t know how to explain that he was drawn to Dick like some kind of magnet.

Dick looked like he was considering everything Lewis had said; working on another puzzle. Then, to Lewis’s horror, Dick’s eyes started to shine.

He sat up straighter. “Dick,” he said in warning, trying to ward off what Dick might say next.

The other man’s hand had fallen to the crook of his elbow where his words were printed, and Lewis didn’t think he was even aware of it. “You realize I feel the same way, right?” Dick asked, leaning over his desk a little. “You understand me and I don’t have to try so hard with you because it’s like you can read my mind.” He looked uncomfortable having to say it out loud, but it didn’t dampen the shine or affect the nervous smile he had on his face.

“And you know that that’s—”

“Stop, Dick. Stop.” Dick looked taken aback and he straightened up, pulling away. Lewis was glad. He stood up from the chair and took a step back. Dick stood more slowly.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Lewis started, “and I’m going to stop you now.” The shaking was back, but he’d already emptied the flask. “I don’t have words. What part of that do you not understand?”

“Maybe you just haven’t found them,” Dick argued. He looked frustrated and hurt and Lewis hated himself for hurting him. For being put in the position to hurt him.

“Really? You’re saying that I haven’t tried hard enough or something? Can you even imagine what it’s like to know that everyone else in the world, even your asshole of a father, has someone who’ll love and fit them perfectly but you don’t?

“Of course you can’t,” Lewis laughed bitterly. “You grew up with words. Your parents were soulmates, your grandparents were soulmates, and all of those relationships were perfect and easy and loving.”

Dick’s face had shut down. “Lew—,” he tried quietly, but Lewis cut him off.

“There isn’t anyone out there who’s made for me, got it? No one.”

Dick’s expression hardened then and he moved quickly, coming around his desk and the chair in front of it to reach for Lewis’s arm. His skin tingled when Dick made contact, and he pulled away after a second or two.

“I am,” Dick replied, letting his hand fall to his side. “Don’t you get it? Everything you just described, how I understand you and how you don’t have to explain yourself, means that I’m the person who’s made for you. For Christ’s sake, Lew, you said my words on the day we met, and I know that I said yours back. And you felt it when I did, I could see it on your face.

“I feel the same way you do. When your father suggested that I not spend so much time with you, I couldn’t imagine it,” he finished softly. The only sign that he was upset was the way his eyebrows were pulled together and the hurt that had replaced the shine in his eyes.

Lewis couldn’t take it and turned away.

“Dick, you can’t be my soulmate. I don’t have any words,” he said. When he didn’t get a response, he glanced back. Dick was put together again, his face a careful blank and his posture tight and contained. He stayed silent, watching Lewis, and it occurred to him that he might just be the puzzle Dick couldn’t put down.

With a riot of emotions in his chest, and his heart pounding again, Lewis left.

***********

The bar was loud and dark and it drowned out Lewis’s thoughts just like he needed it to. He’d also graduated at some point in the evening from whiskey to vodka, specifically a Polish vodka that the bartender had served him with a doubtful look and a warning that it was the hardest liquor served in the United States.

Lewis had smirked, said that that was exactly what he needed, and even though the bartender refused to serve it neat, it did the trick. Though it didn’t quite get rid of the restless _thing_ in his chest.

Eventually the bartender cut him off, and at that point, in a bit of a fog, his thoughts climbed out on the other side and came back like an echo. Lewis couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Dick’s face when he’d pushed him away again.

His thoughts were slow and jumbled, but now that he was thinking about Dick again, Lewis couldn’t help but realize that Dick was right. Everything that Lewis felt was characteristic of the soulmate bond and if Dick felt the same way, it was a good indication of what they were to each other.

He’d gone his whole life with no one really understanding him, but Dick could see through his bullshit and sarcasm and evasion techniques to see what Lewis really meant. Dick called him “Lew” with a level of affection that he’d last heard from his mother when he was four.

But Lewis didn’t have any words and somehow even that wasn’t a real obstacle.

He’d never heard of it happening before, but maybe it was only Dick who needed the words to find Lewis. Words or no words, Lewis knew that he wasn’t going to leave any time soon.

Lewis raked his hands through his hair and tugged a little before he threw some money down on the bar and stood up to leave.

“Hey, buddy, do you want me to call you a cab?” the bartender called after him. “You’d better not be driving.”

“No, I’m good,” he said back, though there was a slight slur in his voice and he stumbled a little. The bartender didn’t look truly convinced, but Lewis was out the door before he could do anything about it. 

Once he was on the street, Lewis had to gather his thoughts together again. All he wanted to do was sleep. Sleep was the next goal.

He started off in a direction that felt right, but he didn’t really know anymore where he was in relation to his apartment. He wasn’t sure that he really cared either, so he just kept putting one foot in front of the other.

When he stopped, Lewis shouldn’t have been surprised that the urge he’d been following brought him to an address that he recognized from talking to Dick and catching a glimpse of his employment papers. He stared up at the building for a few seconds, taking in the brick and the curling banister that lined the stone front steps.

The restless _thing_ was finally settled down and he felt like his head cleared and he could draw a full breath again. Before he knew what he was doing, Lewis had climbed the steps and pressed the button next to the name _Winters_ , scrawled in Dick’s neat handwriting. While he waited, he looked at some of the other names. He noted that there was a _Speirs_ a floor below and a _Lipton_ on Dick’s floor.

The sound of the speaker crackling to life prompted Lewis to speak. “Dick, it’s me,” he scratched out before Dick had a chance to say anything.

“Lew…”

“Just let me up,” he said, all the breath and the fight leaving him. Hearing Dick’s voice, a little cautious but mostly familiar, took care of all of the whirling emotions in his head and put them to rest. There was a buzz then and Lewis let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

It was easy to find Dick’s door, and he didn’t even have to knock.

“Lew?” Dick asked, looking concerned as Lewis stumbled across the threshold. He’d sobered a little, but the Polish vodka had really packed a punch. Thoughts of the bar brought back memories of what had drawn him out of it in the first place.

“I don’t know what’s happening, Dick,” he declared, only slurring a little. “But you’re the only person in the world who gets me, and you’ve never tried to push anything on me the way my father always has. Somehow, you can see exactly who I am _and_ you’re okay with putting up with that.

“And I physically can’t stay away from you. I’ve never been here, but I walked all the way here from a bar downtown because it’s like there’s something that draws me toward you,” Lewis was gesturing widely and Dick stood in the doorway, arms crossed and leaning against the side, watching him. “You probably guessed the bar part. But you were right earlier. I did say your words and when you responded I did feel something. But you knew that too.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m here now,” he finished, out of breath. The alcohol and the walking was really catching up to him now and he collapsed on the couch behind him. It had been a long day, and now, after letting all of that out, he felt exhausted. He remembered the sleep goal.

Dick was smirking as he looked back at Lewis, but it was gentle and amused. “I’m going to get you some water,” he said, “then we should talk.”

Lewis nodded back lazily. His eyelids felt heavy all of a sudden and the world around him finally felt still. He fell asleep before Dick got back.

***************

He half woke up at some point. His shoes were off and he was aware of a weight lying across his legs and back and shoulders. He slipped back under before he could learn anything else.

***********

When Lewis woke up completely, the weight was still settled across his body, but now he had something under his head and gentle fingers playing slowly with the hair around his ear. Above him, he heard the unmistakable sound of a page turning and it occurred to him that his head might be in Dick’s lap.

Now that he was totally conscious and paying attention, he realized that the weight he felt was a knitted blanket that had been thrown across the back of the couch before and was now draped over him. It was warm and smelled exactly like Dick.

He took a moment to bask in the sensation and the way his skin responded to touching Dick.

Fuck the words.

Lewis opened his eyes fully and turned over in Dick’s lap, moving forward at the same time to put one hand around the back of Dick’s head.

Dick jumped a little against him, but he quickly figured out what was happening and kissed back; one hand slipping around Lewis’s back and one migrating to his hip.

The thing started up in his chest again and Lewis could feel his heart pounding. He also felt the rush of _right_ that barreled into him like a freight train.

It could have gone on forever, the two of them curled around each other, and Lewis wanted it to but the arm of the couch was kind of digging into his back. As if sensing Lewis’s discomfort, Dick pulled away, but he kept his hands on Lewis to steady him as he sat up. And then they were looking at each other and the shine was back in Dick’s eyes.

“I found your words,” he told him, breathless again, “Or, the one word, to be more accurate.”

Lewis was still half-caught-up in the kiss and blinked, “No kidding.”

Dick smiled in response and it was like the sun coming out. “Yeah.” Dick moved one hand up and rubbed his thumb behind Lewis’s right ear. “You missed a spot.”

His hand flew up to run his fingers over the spot, and Lewis looked at Dick again in disbelief. Dick laughed and said, “I’ll show you.” He nudged Lewis to the side so he could get up, and Lewis followed, stopping to toss the blanket over the back of the couch.

Dick took him to the bathroom and gave him a hand mirror while he positioned Lewis in front of the bigger mirror. Lewis craned his neck a little and bent his ear forward while Dick adjusted the hand that held the mirror.

And just like Dick had said, on the shell of Lewis’s ear, in the middle and in a moderate sized font were two letters. _Oh._ There was no way he would have been able to find it himself.

Lewis looked at the letters for a second, then he met Dick’s eyes in the mirror and he groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he lamented as Dick broke out into laughter. “I’m serious! Who has words on their damn ear?!” his voice rose, “This has to be some kind of joke.”

“No, Lew, you really do have a soulmate after all.” Dick was still laughing and his eyes were sparkling and he looked happier than Lewis had ever seen him.

Lewis sighed and slumped against the counter, facing Dick. “Here I thought I’d had a big growing moment and that I’d finally gotten past something. But it turns out that it was all for nothing because I’ve apparently had words all along and no one thought to tell me they were behind my goddamn ear.”

Dick sobered a little and leaned against the counter beside him. “You didn’t know you had words until now. I’d argue that your growth still counts,” he said. He glanced at Lewis and smirked a little, nudging him with his elbow until Lewis eventually gave in and smiled.

“Fine, it’s a little funny,” he relented, pushing Dick away.

“What do you want to do next?” Dick asked.

“All I know is that I want it to involve kissing you some more.”

Dick pushed away from the counter and turned to face him, grin still in place. “Deal.” Lewis smiled back and moved in to get started.

They were going to have to figure out some way to deal with Stanhope eventually, but for now Lewis was more than happy to embrace the fact that he wasn’t an island anymore, and that he could stand here and kiss his soulmate.


End file.
